Trojans inexhaustible 200 relay squad at full strength for state this time

Tom Keegan
onwardtrojans.com

​It stands to reason that the more faith a coach puts in an athlete to accomplish a challenging task, the deeper the athlete’s confidence grows.
Chesterton swim coach Jenni Anderson has faith in her swimmers to compete in back-to-back races, knowing how well-conditioned they are from their training. Sure enough, they do it and they do it better all the time.
The Trojans’ 200-yard freestyle relay team of Lux Mountford, Patricia Ozimek, Emily Hofmann and Miata Henderson qualified for the state meet by winning the Hobart sectional with a 1:38.51, a time that would have advanced the foursome to the big weekend via the state time standards even without winning. That event is the ninth in a meet. The longest race, the 500 free, is the eighth event.
“Emily and Miata are coming straight from the 500 right into the 2 free relay at sectionals,” Mountford marveled. “They did have that five-minute break for cool-down, and they also had the podium, but that’s when we need to be in the ready room.”
They were happy to hurry. After all, Henderson knows what it’s like not to be able to swim in a big event. A year ago, Henderson defeated Valparaiso’s Whitney Anderson in the 500 free at sectionals and swam the third leg of the 200 free relay that also qualified. But COVID-19 reared its ugly head one more time and prevented Henderson from swimming at state. Hofmann, the first alternate for the relay, took her place. The Trojans had the 20th-best time in the Friday prelim, missing a Saturday swim by four places.
“It was a lot of pressure because I didn’t know I was swimming until the day before,” said Hofmann, who was joined on the relay by Mountford, graduated Annmarie Easter, and now swimming for the other two relays, Tegan Werner. “It’s a lot of pressure, but it’s also a lot of fun. Having my friends surround me was the biggest thing I had because I was scared. There were a lot of pep talks.”
Now it’s a case of been there, done that for Hofmann. She’s looked forward to the return trip so much that she anticipated the week leading up to it going by slowly.
“I think it’s a long time when you’re sitting in school, but when you’re here (at the pool) it goes by so fast because you’re having fun with your friends,” she said early in the week.
The rigorous workouts are on hold this time of year.
“It’s a lot of technique, exchanges, making sure everything is fine-tuned to where we need it,” Hofmann said.
The exchanges, Mountford said, are what “make swimming such a hard sport, I guess. You have to be super fast, but if the official sees the slightest thing, they can call it, and then that’ll be the end of it. That’s why it’s so nerve-wracking. That’s why we practice them every day to get the exchanges down, to get them as fast as possible, but to get them safe at the same time.”
Ozimek gave herself a low grade for that portion of her sectional day.
“I have some things to work on with the exchange,” Ozimek said. “I panicked, so I was later than I should have been.”
It didn’t cost the Trojans. Too slow is always better than too fast, unless you swim for Carmel, which can afford to get tagged with a disqualification here or there and still win the team competition. Carmel swimmers can afford to take risks and do with an eye toward records.
Ozimek made up for what she considered a poor job with the exchange by swimming well at a distance she finds exhilarating.
“I like the energy it has and I feel good during it,” she said of the 50-yard distance. “It’s an all-out sprint, and when you’re neck-and-neck with someone, then you catch them, it’s really exciting. And then watching your team coming and they slowly get in front of the other team, it’s so exciting.”
The 200 free relay is the only event this weekend for Ozimek and Hofmann. Mountford also swims the 200 free, Henderson the 200 and 500 free races.
The Chesterton relay enters Friday night’s preliminary with the 13th-best seed time. A top eight finish would land the Trojans in the A final. A ninth-through-16 time in the prelim gives them a spot in the B, or consolation final. All 16 second-day places, provided they aren’t disqualified, score points for their schools. The top eight have medals hung around their necks on the podium. For the next eight, your ribbon’s in the mail.